Big cars in our sights Many commuters will soon have to pay more for parking in Basel

Basel wants to ban parked cars from the cityscape. As a result, on-street parking will now be more expensive for many commuters. But there is a ray of hope for visitors.

DPA

22.12.2024, 19:20

dpa

Anyone who works in Basel and arrives in a slightly larger car will pay significantly more for parking in public spaces in future. From January 1, the Swiss border city will be staggering parking fees for commuters and residents according to vehicle length. Only the smallest cars will not be more expensive, as the city announced back in June.

For visitors who occasionally drive to Basel by car, parking fees will not increase. The visitor parking permit from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. will cost CHF 20 per day as before, as Simon Kettner said. He is responsible for the mobility strategy at the Department of Construction and Transport of the Canton of Basel-Stadt. Twelve tickets per vehicle per calendar year can be purchased online at half price.

Only small cars spared from fee increase

Anyone commuting to Basel in a small car up to 3.90 meters in length will continue to pay CHF 70 per month for parking. Up to 4.90 meters in length, the price rises to around 80 francs, and for even longer vehicles to around 87 francs. According to estimates by the Basel Department of Transport, around 80 percent of vehicles are likely to fall into the medium category, with ten percent being longer or shorter, said Kettner.

It is not only SUVs that will be more expensive: a VW Golf or an Opel Corsa, for example, are also longer than 3.90 meters. Cars such as the Renault Twingo or a Fiat 500 have less. Most SUVs are between 4 and 5.5 meters long.

Passenger cars have been growing for years. The Basel researchers have demonstrated this in terms of weight: in 2023, 53 percent of newly registered cars had an unladen weight of more than 1700 kilograms. The figure was 46 percent for cars between one and five years old and 34 percent for cars between five and ten years old, according to Kathrin Grotrian from the Office for Mobility.

The aim of the price increase for residents and commuters is to get parked cars off the street and into underground garages. According to Kettner, around a fifth of the estimated additional revenue of just under two million francs will flow into a mobility fund. This will be used to fund park & ride facilities, new cycle paths and public transport facilities, among other things.